Links to Libel and Slander Resources Around the Web

This page was maintained by the Digital Media Law Project from 2007-14 and provides a good (though dated) overview of defamation law in Virginia. The DMLP formerly offered free legal resources designed to benefit individuals and organizations involved in online journalism and digital media.

Part of the Legal Guide for Bloggers published by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, this helpful guide is required reading for anyone who publishes content on the Internet. Includes an excellent summary of the key issues affecting bloggers today.

This site provides a wealth of information about free speech on the Internet, including a guide for bloggers wishing to avoid libel accusations, a summary of “legal perils” of Internet speakers, and information about opposing subpoenas to protect anonymity.

This law blog covers various issues relating to consumer law, including false advertising, consumer fraud, and unfair trade practices. The quality of the legal analysis tends to be very high, as the blog’s contributors include lawyers and law professors who practice, teach, or write about consumer law and policy. Ongoing coverage of the legal issues involved in writing online reviews.

Officially, this blog is about “technology and marketing,” but it’s an excellent place to come for comprehensive coverage of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996, a law that creates immunity against defamation claims and any other cause of action that would make Internet service providers liable for information written by third-party users of the service.

Without question, the most irreverent site on this list. The blog contains frequently humorous articles on topics completely unrelated to the law (video gaming and Internet marketing come to mind), but the entries on First Amendment law and defamation are consistently excellent. Most are written by Harvard-educated California attorney Kenneth P. White.

Essentially a FAQ (list of Frequently Asked Questions) pertaining to defamation law. Includes a detailed explanation of cyberstalking. Lumen (formerly the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse) is a project of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University.

Author Camilla Vasquez doesn’t update this blog very often, but the blog is worth a visit for anyone interested in the psychology behind online reviews. Professor Vasquez is a discourse analyst and sociolinguist and the author of The Discourse of Online Consumer Reviews.

Written for law students, this site asks the question, “What limitations does the First Amendment place on the ability of states to impose civil liability (through, e.g., defamation, invasion of privacy, or contract law) based on the content of speech?” Written by Professor Douglas O. Linder of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

The site isn’t pretty to look at but provides an interesting look at how the First Amendment can be implicated in word-less works of art. Written by Professor Julie Van Camp of California State University, Long Beach.

Curious about how defamation law in California differs from that in Virginia? Though infrequently updated, this blog is a good place to start. Written by California defamation lawyer Adrianos Facchetti.

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